


With You (Where I Wanna Stay)

by TheMipstaz



Series: There's a Light in the Dark [8]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No One Direction, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, M/M, Meet-Cute, Pack Dynamics, Pre-Slash, Single Parent Louis, Werewolves, the tide AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-06 06:11:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15880155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMipstaz/pseuds/TheMipstaz
Summary: In which Louis learns about his family tree, Niall does not have treats in his pocket, and Freddie learns his first word.





	With You (Where I Wanna Stay)

**Author's Note:**

> Title from [The Tide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVaGtxCrjus), aka a song I def overlooked the first listen around and am thoroughly enjoying now.
> 
> Originally based on the prompt: “This is my first time at the park with my dog and he won’t stop running to you, are you keeping treats in your pockets or something?”
> 
> I love writing werewolf AUs, but this one was especially fun as far as worldbuilding goes. Even though it's brief because school started up again and I didn't have time to flesh it out as much as I would've liked, I think it's really interesting to think about AUs where werewolves are known. Like how lycanthropy fits into bureaucracy and health care and the economy and legal matters, etc. Ideally, this verse would've explored werewolf custody and how pack bonds hold up against blood/familial bonds in court. In that unwritten version, the title made a lot more sense tbh. But I never got around to that bit, so just enjoy this brief nouis interaction lol. 
> 
> As usual, special shoutout to [Skye](http://twistofpayne.tumblr.com/) and [Eli](http://mercuryraindrops.tumblr.com/) for reading over this bad boy. 
> 
> Of course, big shout out to the Nouis Fest mods! This was a lot of fun <3 Can't wait to read everyone else's works. 
> 
> And keep an eye out for my 1d "Set It Up" AU that I will hopefully (knock on wood) have out by winter break!

“Shit—Bruce, get the fuck back here!” But Louis’ boisterous dog bounds off without a care for his red-faced owner. “Jesus Christ,” Louis mutters as he attempts to juggle a ten month-old infant, a bulky baby bag, and a pram with a wobbly wheel.

No matter what he likes to tell Freddie, he’s not actually superhuman. He doesn’t remember why he woke up this morning with the mad idea to try a walk in the park without bringing back up. He should leave that nonsense to the actual werewolves. Lord knows Harry would have already been awake for whatever New Age, hippie lifestyle trend bullshit he’s on about this time. Last month, it was snail mucus face masks coupled with Chinese herbal tea. Even to Louis’ human nose, Harry smelled like escargot and ginseng for days.

Nevertheless, Louis can always count on his nutter of a best friend to be raring to take Freddie and the dogs out for a stroll. Well, singular dog now, seeing as Louis has just lost one.

Freddie babbles in sympathy. Or Louis would like to think his son takes pity on him, but Freddie’s gap-toothed smile might say otherwise. Or, it might mean his nappy needs changing.

“Your mum would fucking kill me if we lost her dog,” Louis tells Freddie solemnly while holding him up to sniff his bum. Clean. For now.

Freddie blinks down at him. “Fuh…”

Louis winces and bounces Freddie in his lap. “And she’d definitely kill me if she knew your first word might be a swear. Haven’t even got a swear jar set up yet.”

“S’okay, mate, me nephew’s first word was ‘shite’ because I watched too much golf around him. Don’t think me brother ever quite forgave me for that.”

Louis looks up to see a stranger standing in front of the bench he’s sat on with Freddie and Clifford. Louis gets a brief glimpse of dark hair, sun-kissed at the ends, and ocean blue eyes bookended by laughter lines.

Then Bruce bounces into view, tongue lolling happily like he didn’t just run off with ten years off his dad’s lifespan. The goldendoodle plants his front paws on Louis’ knees, and Louis loses sight of the man’s cuffed jeans and scuffed boots.

“This one’s yours, I assume,” laughs the stranger. Bruce finishes bathing Louis’ face with his tongue and turns on Freddie. Louis sputters and snags the proffered leash while Bruce dances around the stranger. He barks and wags his tail so hard his whole backside shakes with it. A bit like Harry on the dancefloor after too much vodka, Louis observes.

More wary, Clifford stays back but reluctantly sniffs the hand the stranger holds out. His tail thumps the ground in approval.

“Yeah, yeah, thanks, mate.” Louis cradles Freddie in one arm and holds onto Bruce and Clifford’s leads with the other. When the pram threatens to roll away, Louis hooks it with a foot. Proper mess of a single dad, he is. “Appreciate it.” He focuses on gripping the leather so he doesn’t do something ridiculous like reach for the stranger’s freckled hand or crack a bad joke to see that sunny smile again. “Bruce, sit.” Louis breathes out a sigh of relief when Bruce’s bum drops to the pavement next to Clifford’s.

He tries to ignore the disappointment curdling in his stomach when the stranger walks off with a chin scratch for Bruce and a parting wave for Louis. Bruce whines low in his throat, ears drooping. Louis fights the urge to do the same. “I know, boy, I know.”

* * *

The next time Louis finds time to visit the park, he has the good sense to bring Harry, which regrettably means Nick tags along as well.

“Joined at the hip, you two are,” Louis comments in a dry voice. He eyes Nick distrustfully even though Nick has been spending more nights in Harry’s flat than his own for the past three years.

“We were joined at a lot more places last night,” Nick smirks and waggles his eyebrows.

Louis scowls ferociously.

Unfortunately, Harry is too busy throwing Freddie up into the air and catching him again for Louis to whinge about his disgusting boyfriend. Enhanced werewolf reflexes be damned, Harry still stumbles over his own feet most days. Louis doesn’t fancy Freddie cracking his head open on the ground because Louis distracted Harry by griping.

But Nick trips when the pram’s bad wheel catches in a crack in the cement, so Louis feels somewhat mollified.

Suddenly, Bruce lifts his head and abandons his critical task of sniffing at tree roots. His ears twitch. At Louis’ side, Clifford also perks up. That’s all the warning Louis gets before both leads snap taut, and the dogs do their best to rip Louis’ arms from his sockets.

“Oi, knock it off!” Louis snaps, trying to reel them back in. He’s so busy with the yapping dogs that he doesn’t notice both Harry and Nick have gone stock still. Harry hugs Freddie closer to his chest, fingers curling protectively around the back of his head. Nick subtly steps forward to place himself between them and the figure walking closer.

“I think he remembers me.” The stranger from the other day grins at Bruce. The sunlight catches his eyes and flashes them almost electric blue. He kneels down to rub Bruce’s wiggling bum. “And nice to see you’ve warmed up, sir.” He buries a hand in Clifford’s black scruff. Clifford squirms with delight, all previous reservations forgotten.

“Who’s this, Tommo?” Harry asks in a careful voice.

Nick inches closer, face gone serious and calculating.

Louis tries to use his eyebrows to communicate to Nick to stop acting like such a weirdo in front of this cute bloke. However, it seems Nick is only fluent in eyebrows when he and Harry team up for charades at game night because Nick just squares his shoulders and juts his chin out like a complete chav. Or, Louis realizes with an internal groan, a territorial alpha.

The stranger glances between the tense line of Harry’s spine and Nick’s wide, looming stance. He raises an eyebrow and slowly straightens up from where he crouched down to pet the dogs—no sudden moves, chin tilted down in deference, posture relaxed and unthreatening. “I can go,” he says lightly, already edging away from the strained atmosphere.

“No!” Louis bursts out before he can stop himself. He feels his cheeks pink up, and he bites his lip to stop any other stupid impulses.

The stranger’s visible unease softens a little in a way that makes Louis’ stomach tingle. He steps forward, flicks his eyes to Nick so fast Louis almost misses it, and rests a hand on Louis’ upper arm. “It’s okay, really.” His thumb brushes lightly at the thin material of Louis’ shirt. “I’ll see you around, yeah?”

Louis says, a little dazed, “Yeah, for sure.”

The stranger nods and slips away with one last unreadable look at Nick’s raised hackles and Harry’s circumspect gaze.

Louis watches until he ambles out of sight. Then he whips around to whack Nick, who’s drifted over his shoulder to growl softly.

“Ouch, hey!” Nick retreats behind Harry, hunkering down behind his boyfriend’s broad frame. He peeks over Harry’s shoulder, pushing aside some curls to level Louis with a reproachful look.

“That’s for going all alpha on me,” Louis snaps. He rubs unconsciously at the place where the stranger’s warm palm pressed against his arm.

“Well that’s for him scentmarking you,” Nick huffs. “Right in front of me too. Is that what this world has come to?”

“He’s a wolf?” Louis blinks in surprise, but shakes it off. “That doesn’t mean you had to be an arse,” Louis huffs. “Aren’t you the one that’s always saying just because you’re a wolf doesn’t mean you haven’t got manners?”

“He’s the one without any manners,” Nick protests. “Harold, back me up here.”

When Harry opens his mouth to give an unnecessary lecture about wolf etiquette while in another pack’s territory, Louis cuts in, “No, I don’t need you going on about it too. So he touched me arm, so what? Get over it.”

Harry’s eyes go comically wide. “Oh my God, Louis, you _like_ him.”

“I do not,” Louis retorts too quickly. “Don’t even know his bloody name, do I?”

“But you _want_ to,” Harry says gleefully. “You want to know his name and his number and his,” Harry cups Freddie’s ears as best he can with one hand and mouths _prick._ He uncovers Freddie's ears. “You fancy him.”

“I do not,” Louis repeats, but it sounds childish. Like one of the twins stomping their foot and declaring they don’t want to go to bed.

“Awww, your daddy has a little crush,” Harry coos at Freddie. “Isn’t that adorable?” Freddie babbles back while Harry nods like he understands baby gibberish. Although, to be fair, if anyone did, it would be him.

“Stop poisoning my son with slander and lies,” Louis huffs. He tugs on Bruce and Clifford’s leashes. “C’mon, let’s go.” The dogs clamber to their feet. At least someone around here listens to Louis.

The next time Louis sees the his favorite park companion, he’s ready for the way Bruce lunges forward with an ecstatic bark. He doesn’t dislocate anything, but he’s also not quite strong enough to stop Bruce from hauling him and Freddie over to their new friend.

Louis figures third time’s the charm. Or, in this case, third time’s enough to at least get on a first name basis, or any name basis. Louis’ really not asking for much here.

“Hi,” Louis says, a little breathless for reasons he doesn’t want to overanalyze.

“Hi,” comes the amused response. And, God, even the dimple in his chin looks good. How is this at all fair?

“Have you got treats in your pocket or something?” Louis frowns as Bruce’s plaintive cries finally earn him a scritch behind one golden ear. “I swear, he’s usually much better behaved than this. Loves Freddie, here.” Louis nods down to Freddie, who’s contemplating a future in gymnastics as he inches his toes closer and closer to his mouth. “Usually won’t let him out of his sight.”

“S’okay, dogs can’t help it.” That mesmerizing smile reappears, the one that Louis would love to stare at for ages if he didn’t have his two-legged baby strapped to his chest and his four-legged baby wrapping the leash around his legs. “Werewolf dynamics mess with their instincts.”

Oh.

Louis knew this, of course. He had spent an entire evening enduring Harry’s endless teasing about it. Harry had taken to looking up werewolf harlequin novels online and dramatically reading lines aloud to Louis: “Hey, Tommo, what turns you on more? Your mystery wolf’s animalistic musk or the carnal desire in his eyes?”

“Hey, Haz, shut the fuck up.”

But it’s one thing to binge romcoms in the inter-species couples tab of Netflix until three in the morning with Harry. It’s something else completely to actually see the man’s eyes gleam with a preternatural glow that marks Louis’ crush as a carrier of the lycanthropy gene.

“I’m Niall, by the way.” The calluses on his hand rasp pleasantly against Louis’ palm. “Typically I try to do names before species status, but,” he shrugs like _what can ya do?_

“Louis, Freddie, Bruce. Human, human, Goldendoodle,” Louis rattles off just to be cheeky.

To his delight, Niall rewards him with another laugh. Louis smirks, pleased with himself.

Bruce darts about exuberantly in the sunshine.

“Pleased to meet you all.” Niall hesitates before adding, “Haven’t brought your alpha with you today?”

Louis snorts. He can’t help it; sure, Nick’s technically an alpha, registered on paper and all that, but most mornings the man walks around in a pink silk robe until he’s had at least two cups of coffee. He and Harry have competitions to see who can go longer without crying when they watch weird Thai life insurance commercials. One time, Louis farted so loudly he scared Nick into a full shift, and he slunk around as a pouty, seventy-kilo wolf for the rest of the afternoon.

So, “No, haven’t got me alpha.” Louis’ voice takes on a bit of an edge. “Don’t need his permission to go out.”

“Didn’t think so,” Niall replies evenly. “We’ve heard good things ’bout the local alpha. Grimshaw, innit?”

Louis nods. Then it clicks. He snaps his fingers. “You’re part of that new pack.” He doesn’t know why it didn’t occur to him earlier, at the first time he heard Niall’s lilting brogue. “From Ireland. Simon mentioned you.”

“Simon?”

“Our head alpha,” Louis explains. “Grimmy is our local alpha, takes care of day-to-day business in London like new packs coming in to fill vacated territory. But Simon’s our big boss or whatever. His jurisdiction covers most of the wolves in Britain and a couple packs in America, mostly the west coast. Los Angeles, like.”

Niall hums, contemplative. “Don’t have head alphas back home. Just got the one, Bressie. Sounds complicated.”

“It is. So what brings you to London? Isn’t it supposed to be really difficult to get authorization to move territories?”

“Absolute nightmare, the paperwork alone. Not to mention trying to convince a bunch of stubborn Mullingar wolves to move to a cramped city after they’re used to having loads of green space to run about. But we had some people here already to sponsor the transfer.”

“Who?” Louis asks. “Maybe I know ‘em.”

“My old mate from uni, Liam Payne, and his pack have vouched for us.”

Louis hums thoughtfully. Freddie mimics the sound. “The Paynes are good people.”

“The processing and formalities were a pain,” Louis doesn’t deign that pathetic pun with a laugh, “but that’s business.” Niall nods to a little table and bench set up when he sees Freddie start to fuss in his baby sling, and they head towards it. He continues, “Bressie wanted a London branch for his pub.” He shoots Louis a sideways glance, bites his lip nervously, and offers, “You should come down sometime, meet the others. They’d like you.” He taps the tip of Freddie’s nose with a finger. “And they’d fall all over themselves for you.”

“Suppose me and the little lad could come by for a bit.” When Louis lowers himself onto the bench, he groans and his knees crack. God, nothing like having a kid to age his body ten years. He wouldn’t mind some of that werewolf hardiness right about now. Harry swears by yoga, but Louis knows his lycanthropy genes are doing most of the work.

Louis carefully unhooks Freddie from his harness to settle him in his lap. Niall sits beside Louis and helpfully grabs Bruce’s leash. Louis smiles gratefully.

“So,” Niall tips his head hopefully, “I’ll see you both there?”

“We can do Wednesday,” Louis offers. Taking his son to the heart of another pack’s territory might not be the cleverest idea he’s ever had, but there are fewer things Louis enjoys more than getting Nick as close to having an aneurysm as possible. However, one thing that might top Nick apoplectic with rage is the chance to see Niall again, maybe ask about the distinct guitar calluses on the pads of his fingers or count the freckles peeking under the collar of his shirt.

Niall grins, blindingly bright. “Wednesday sounds great.” He hesitates for a moment, dazzling radiance dimming slightly. “And, um, Freddie’s mam?”

It takes Louis by surprise, not sure where Briana fits into what he had hoped was Niall making a move. But then Louis reminds himself that of course Niall has to awkwardly ask after Freddie’s mum. He doesn’t know that Louis and Briana couldn’t make it work and gave up a few months after Freddie’s birth in favor of co-parenting as friends. “Oh, Briana might be busy. With her new boyfriend or something,” Louis adds pointedly. Briana has no such significant other, but dropping that hint is much smoother than _Me and my son’s mother aren’t an item, and she would very much approve of me finding myself a fit boy like you, so please dear God I hope you just asked me out on a date._

Niall’s expression brightens noticeably even though he tries and fails miserably to look put out. “Oh, well then, hopefully she can come ‘round next time.”

Louis bites back a smile. So there’s going to be a next time.

Before he can ask if aneurysms are fatal to werewolves, Freddie sneezes. When Louis goes to wipe his nose, he finds a furry wolf pup blinking up at him with Freddie’s wide grey eyes.

“Um,” Louis’ forehead wrinkles with the force of his frown, “what the fuck.”

The pup sneezes again, so hard his muzzle jerks. Louis flinches away from the spray of snot and spittle. When he gingerly opens his eyes again, Freddie gurgles happily in his arms—human once again.

“Erm, Might have to rethink that whole ‘human, human, dog’ schtick,” Niall muses, amazingly calm considering Louis’ very human son—who he had with another human, mind you—just sprouted adorable little fangs.

Louis repeats with feeling, “Um, what the _fuck_ ,” for lack of anything else to say. His brain still hasn’t quite caught up to the fact that his son had a tail sticking out of his trousers three seconds ago. Louis is pretty sure his parenting books didn’t have a chapter for this.

Freddie grabs Louis’ thumb with an serious expression on his face. He fumbles to coordinate his lips for a moment. “F-fuck.”

Niall guffaws so hard he almost falls over.

Jesus, Louis thinks in abject horror, Briana’s going to murder him.

* * *

“Harry. Harry. H-Hazza. Harold,” Louis sighs, but can’t help the quirk of his lips when Niall flashes his eyes at Freddie, who does it right back. Quick learner, his wee lad. Turning his attention back to his mobile, Louis pinches the bridge of his nose. “Haz, stop crying. Just for a second.” If anything, the ugly sound of Harry blowing his nose only gets louder over the line.

Niall has taken up peek-a-boo now, hiding his face and emerging with increasingly ridiculous expressions. Freddie claps with delight when Niall bares his fangs in a silly snarl. His pudgy little hands rove over Niall’s cheeks and his scrunched nose.

“What do you mean this is a miracle? This is literally impossible, H. It can’t happen. It physically can’t.” Louis scowls and wishes Harry could see it. “Yes, I mean, Fred did sprout fur and claws and all that. But, I mean, how is that even feasible? Me and Bri, we aren’t wolves.”

Niall rubs his nose through Freddie’s baby-soft hair. Louis reckons Nick’s probably going to have that aneurysm he’s been waiting for once he smells that. It does little to lift his spirits.

“Yes, I know we’re pack,” Louis says impatiently. “But spending twenty years around a wolf doesn’t suddenly give me the ability to have a wolf pup, Harry. That’s not how genetics works.”

Niall pretends not to eavesdrop while Freddie gnaws on his finger. He leans down to discreetly sniff. Louis pretends not to notice. Under Freddie’s baby-sweet scent and Louis’ warm fragrance, Louis wonders if Niall can detect hints of other wolves—summer ripe peaches, squeaky vinyl, and watermelon-flavored kids toothpaste. That’s how Harry has always described the pack scent.

“What do you mean, of course I met Bri’s parents. So they ate their steaks a little rare, so what, Harry? You’re a Goddamn vegetarian right now. That doesn’t have anything to do with wolves.”

Niall wrinkles his nose. “A vegetarian werewolf?” he murmurs to Freddie. “No wonder Laura and Eoghan didn’t want to come here. London’s mad, petal.” Freddie blinks up at him. “I know, you don’t know who they are. But hopefully you will soon.” He looks up to see Louis pacing restlessly.

“Yeah, okay, I’ll ring Mum.” Louis cards a harried hand through his hair. He can already feel an impending headache behind his eyes. “Yep, yes, okay, bye. Love you too.”

He dials a new number, pacing never faltering. “Hi, Mum, how’re you? Fine. Alright, yeah. Haz’s good too. He sends his love. Freddie is wonderful. He misses you too. Anway, Mum, I’m actually calling about Fred. He, uh,” Louis glances at Niall for a split second, “he actually turned out to be a werepup.” A brief pause. “Mum! Of course he’s me and Bri’s. We did a paternity test, you know that, to make sure before we started co-parenting.” Louis huffs, but gathers himself to refocus on the point of this call. “Do you have any idea how this could happen? Is there anyone on our side who might have the lycanthropy gene somewhere? Or a latent copy of it?”

Niall does his best to ignore the person on the other end of the line, doesn’t want to butt into family business. But he can’t help but overhear a woman saying, “Love, I know we haven’t had talked a lot about your dad. You don’t know much about him at all.” Louis’ grip tightens on his mobile. “But before he left, he did mention something about his mom having a silent lycanthropy gene.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me?”

“Well you obviously didn’t turn out a wolf. And I didn’t know you’d be having children so soon or I’d have brought it up, of course. And after Freddie came about, everything was so hectic. It must’ve just slipped my mind. It doesn’t change anything, him being a wolf.”

“Of course not,” Louis agrees fiercely. “I just feel a bit blindsided, is all.” They exchange a quick goodbye, and Louis promises to call again soon. Finally, he collapses next to Niall on the bench with a groan.

Niall carefully hands Freddie off so Louis can rock him and chew on his bottom lip thoughtfully. Niall waits patiently for him to speak first.

“So,” Louis finally says, “have I scared you off yet?”

“With Freddie?”

Louis nods.

“I happen to like pups.” Niall tickles Freddie under his chin. “You’re gonna have to try harder than that to get rid of me.”

Louis’ heart does a stupid somersault in his chest at the sight of Niall’s easy smile and Freddie’s tight grip on Niall’s finger. He knows the upcoming months won’t be easy. Not that raising a kid is ever easy, but it becomes infinitely more difficult when your child teethes with tiny little fangs and literally howls at night. Louis doesn’t even want to think about how Briana is going to feel about nursing from now on.

But for now, Louis leans into Niall’s shoulder and relishes the careful way Niall tucks his arm around Louis’ shoulders. Freddie’s new species status feels a little less overwhelming with a full fledged wolf pressed close to Louis’ side. Niall’s not pack, but he settles the anxiety rattling in Louis’ ribcage anyway.

“Guess we ought to be getting back home soon,” Louis says after a while.

Earlier, Niall had ducked behind a copse of trees to shift and romp with Bruce until they had both flopped down in the grass panting. Niall’s fur had surprised Louis with its dark color, a brown so deep it almost looked black. But his eyes glowed a familiar electric blue as he bounded up to paw at Louis’ knee and nuzzle Freddie’s round cheeks. Louis wondered if he should've felt more worried about incisors of that size so close to his son’s delicate flesh. However, it turned out Freddie had a higher chance of drowning in Niall’s slobber than of getting nicked by a stray tooth.

Now, Niall’s ears droop at Louis slowly straightening up.

“None of that,” Louis chides. “We’ll be seeing you soon enough.” He reaches out a hand to ruffle Niall’s ears before he remembers himself and freezes. Over the years, Louis has grown so used to scritching Harry under the chin until his leg jiggles or running his fingers through Zayn’s silky fur in greeting. He often forgets that touching an unfamiliar wolf without consent is grounds for a lawsuit, if not an outright physical attack. Not willing to lose his hand, Louis starts to pull away. But Niall rocks to his feet to push his head against Louis’ palm, chest rumbling in contentment. Louis pauses, heart in his throat. He meets Niall’s eyes, takes a shallow breath, and slowly rubs the satiny skin of his pointed ears until Niall draws back.

The wolf shakes out his fur, and Louis groans and tries to shield Freddie from getting coated in stray hairs. Niall barks out what sounds suspiciously like a hearty laugh and trots off. His wagging tail disappears behind the trees. A moment later, he pops out with his clothes bundled in his mouth and pads off.

Louis watches until his tail whisks out of sight. Then he sighs to Freddie. “What’ve we gotten ourselves into, Freddie?”

Predictably, Freddie doesn’t answer, just stares up at him until his eyes start to faintly glow.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. Rebloggable on [Tumblr!](http://nevergooutofstiles.tumblr.com/post/177803290625/with-you-where-i-wanna-stay-by-themipstaz-for)


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